1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector for connecting a printed circuit board or a like element to an electric wire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various connectors for connecting a printed circuit board or a like element to an electric wire are already known. An exemplary one of conventional connectors is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Application No. 53-104389 and is shown in FIGS. 10, 11 and 12. Referring to FIGS. 10 to 12, the conventional connector includes a housing body 110 having a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 111 formed therein. Each of the terminal accommodating chambers 111 has an arresting projection 114 formed therein on the housing body 110. An electric wire 132 is accommodated in each of the terminal accommodating chambers 111 and is connected to an end of a terminal 130 which has a contact piece 131 at the other end thereof and has an engaging hole 133 formed at an intermediate portion thereof. The engaging hole 133 of the terminal 130 cooperates with the arresting projection 114 of the corresponding terminal accommodating chamber 111 to constitute arresting means for arresting the corresponding electric wire 132 in the terminal accommodating chamber 111. A top plate 119 of each of the terminal accommodating chambers 111 is partially cut away so as to expose the contact piece 131 of the terminal 130 partially therethrough.
A cover 113 is formed contiguously to and extends laterally from a portion of the housing body 110 intermediate of the terminal accommodating chambers 111 by way of a flexible portion 112 of a reduced thickness. The cover 113 has an arresting projection 116 formed on an inner face adjacent an end thereof. The arresting projection 116 cooperates with an arresting projection not shown of the housing body 110 to constitute arresting means for arresting the housing body 110 at its closed position. A flexible arresting piece 117 is formed on a face of the housing body 110 remote from the cover 113 and has an arresting projection 118 formed thereon. The arresting projection 118 cooperates with an engaging projection 125 of a casing 120 to constitute arresting means for arresting the housing body 110 at the casing 120.
The casing 120 has a recess or cavity 121 formed at an end portion thereof and has a circuit board portion 123 at the other end portion thereof. A plurality of printed conductors 122 are disposed on the circuit board portion 123 of the casing 120, and each of the printed conductors 122 has a contact terminal 124 in the cavity 121. The contact terminal 124 cooperates with the contact piece 131 of the corresponding connecting terminal 130 on the housing body 110 to constitute sliding contacting means between the printed conductor 122 and the connecting terminal 130, and the cavity 121 constitutes receiving means for receiving an insertion end portion 115 of the housing body 110.
When the conventional connector is to be used, a terminal 130 having a contact piece 131 formed at an end portion thereof and having an electric wire 132 connected to the other end thereof is inserted into a terminal accommodating chamber 111 of the housing body 110 by way of an end opening adjacent the cover 113 (left end opening in FIG. 11). At a position at which the terminal 130 is inserted fully in the terminal accommodating chamber 111, the terminal 130 is arrested at the engaging hole 133 thereof by the arresting projection 114 of the terminal accommodating chamber 111 so that it is thereafter held at the position.
Also the other terminals 130 are accommodated successively into the other terminal accommodating chambers 111, and then, the cover 113 is closed to cause the arresting projection 116 thereon to be arrested by the arresting projection not shown of the housing body 110, thereby completing assembly of the housing body 110.
Subsequently, the cover 113 is opened and the insertion end portion 115 of the housing body 110 is inserted into the cavity 121 of the casing 120 with the cover 113 positioned on the printed conductor 122 side as shown in FIG. 12. At the thus completely inserted position of the housing body 110, the arresting projection 118 of the flexible arresting piece 117 thereof is arrested by the engaging projection 125 of the casing 120 so that the housing body 110 is held at its position in which it is inserted completely in the casing 120. Upon insertion of the housing body 110, the contact piece 131 of each of the terminals 130 slidably moves on and contacts with the contact terminal 124 of the corresponding printed conductor 122 of the casing 120 to establish electric connection between them.
Since the conventional connector is constructed in such a manner as described above, it has a drawback that, when the terminals 130 are inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 111 of the housing body 110, even if any one of them is in an incompletely or half inserted condition, if this is overlooked, then since the cover 113 of the housing body 110 can still be closed similarly as in a regular condition, it will be forwarded to a next step and consequently, inadvertently much time will be taken for the discovery of a trouble in an actually assembled condition of the connector.
Another exemplary one of conventional connectors is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Application No. 53-146982 and is shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. The connector shown is similar to and different from the connector shown in FIGS. 10 to 12 only in that it includes a modified cover 142 and a mounting structure for the same. Accordingly, description is given only of the cover 142 and the mounting structure to avoid redundancy.
The cover 142 is provided for sliding movement in a pair of grooves 144 formed on a housing body 140 adjacent contact pieces 151 of terminals 150 individually accommodated in a plurality of terminal accommodating chamber 141 of the housing body 140, and a pair of open door stoppers 145 are formed at a portion adjacent an end of the cover 142 while an operating projection 146 in the form of a laterally bent tab is formed at the end of the cover 142 remote from the open door stoppers 145. A pair of engaging recesses 148 are formed on a side plate 147 which extends between a pair of outer side portions of the housing body 140 on the opposite sides of the groove 144. The engaging recesses 148 constitute engaging means for engaging with the open door stoppers 145.
Since the present connector is constructed in such a manner as described above, when it is to be assembled, the terminals 150 are successively accommodated into the individual terminal accommodating chambers 141, and then the cover 142 is slidably moved to be closed. Thereupon, the operating projection 146 of the cover 142 is abutted with and stopped by an end edge of the side plate 147 of the housing body 140 while a protrusion 149 on the cover 142 is engaged with the inner face of the side plate 147 to hold the cover 142 at the closed position.
When the housing body 140 is to be inserted into a casing 120 which is similar to the casing 120 of the connector shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, the cover 142 is slidably moved along the grooves 144 to its open position. Thereupon, the open door stoppers 145 of the cover 142 are engaged with and stopped by the engaging recesses 148 of the side plate 147. Thereafter, the arrangement is operated in a similar manner as the arrangement shown in FIGS. 10 to 12 to assemble the housing body 140 and the casing 120.
Since the present connector is constructed in such a manner as described above, even if a terminal 150 is inserted into a terminal accommodating chamber 141 of the housing body 140 but to an intermediate or incompletely inserted position and then this is overlooked, since the cover 142 of the housing body 140 can still be closed in a similar manner as in a case wherein all of the terminals 150 are inserted to individually fully inserted positions thereof, the arrangement thus assembled will be forwarded to a next step as it is. Therefore, inadvertently much time will be taken for the discovery of a trouble which arises from the particular terminal 150 inserted to the incompletely inserted position in the assembled arrangement.